Lee DeWyze was hesitant about having future wife Jonna Walsh walk down the aisle in July to the song he wrote specifically for her. The Mount Prospect native and former “American Idol” winner was worried guests would see it as cheesy. But after giving it some thought, he agreed to have the song, “Who Would Have Known,” played at their wedding in Camarillo, Calif., and then performed it himself afterward at the reception.

How did it go over?

“Perfectly,” said DeWyze over the phone from the Los Angeles area last week. “That was a cool moment that we had.”

The song will be featured on DeWyze's next album, which he expects to release in the next few months. DeWyze is currently on tour performing his new songs and will play Monday at Lincoln Hall, in addition to performing Saturday at the Cures 2012 Gala, hosted by Demand Cures Today-The Gateway for Cancer Research, at the Fairmont Chicago — Millennium Park. (DeWyze noted that he lost his grandfather to lung cancer).

Asked if his life feels any different now that he's married, DeWyze said it does, but in a good way.

“We're running around doing our own thing, but we make it work,” DeWyze said of Walsh, an actress he met while filming the music video for “Sweet Serendipity.” “We find time to support each other and be there for each other. She's coming out with me on tour and will be there for (Saturday's) gala.”

DeWyze has yet to sign with a record label since parting ways with RCA last year. And without a label making requests or a tight deadline to meet, DeWyze feels he can now truly be himself (he frequently tweets video of himself performing new songs, whether they're finished or not, to his 100,000-plus followers online). As has been well documented, DeWyze never quite felt like he fit the “American Idol” mold and has publicly butted heads with executive producer Nigel Lythgoe since appearing on the singing competition.

“It's like driving a car without a backseat driver,” DeWyze said. “At the end of the day, you'll still get to your destination, only you're not being told when to turn left or right and when to speed up. I've played the new songs for people and they can't believe it: ‘This is what you're making now?' Everyone seems pleasantly happy. No one is more excited than me. I feel like once I put it out, people will be like, ‘Oh, I get it now.'”

The yet-to-be-named album will have a progressive, indie folk sound, which DeWyze said is where his heart has always been.

“I'm looking at all this now as more of a career than just, ‘Hey, I put out an album,'” DeWyze said. “I plan on putting out several albums and will continue writing and touring. That's where I belong.”